History

Origin:  Ibeni Oyiakiri Clan settled North of present day Toru-Ibeni.  Ibeni was the first son of Oyiakiri and he had ten other brother.  At the great migration the first son.  Toru-Ibeni shifted to the present position and the other brothers migrated from the original sport to where they find themselves, scattered in Ekeremor, Sagbama and Burutu LGA’s.  As at today eleven sons have so expanded to form satellite Town due to the need to source for useful occupation.  We can today count no less than Twenty-six scattered settlements.

There is no written evidence but oral traditional has it that, Ibeni-Oyiakiri Communities migrated from Ogbo-Kingdom.  If this is true, then, all other clans that migrated from Ogbo Kingdom are our neighbours.  They include, Tarakiri, Mein and Oporomo etc.

The main occupation of Oyiakiri Kingdom was Palm fruit collection by the men.  The palm fruits collection was a very highly celebrated ceremony that all men were involved.  A special day was generally agreed, on which the harvest begins.  It continued from early January until late April or early May, when all the harvest is processed for sale.  In the Salga axis of the harvest, the processed/products are either sent to Amassoma for Ekowe all in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area for sale, where the Royal Niger Company was based.  Also Patani and Bomadi were centres for other parts of Salga there was confrontation among the parties in the trade.  The company used its parameters to buy the products and since it was the mainstay of the people, what ever dictates were simply accepted by the people.

Ibeni-Oyiakiri clan has very little commercial production in any given area.  The men were palm fruit collectors which activity is gradually fading away.  To day, the men and women are subsistence farmers.  Most of the Riverbank croppings are annual and particularly, the fishing too is on very small scale.  To day our main trade item is the plantain.  Due to our low production, we do not have an all-embracing market to attract buyers.  We therefore send our plantain to Port Harcourt through Cargo boats locally
 built.  Some of these items are sent to the coastal markets at Lobia, Ukubie, Furopah etc either to barter or for currency.

The Ibenananship of Ibeni-Oyiakiri Clan from 1911 has been a creation of the colonial Government.  Before the advent of the British Colonial hegemony, Orukariowei of Ibeni-Oyiakiri was the head of the clan but during the era of the British, Ibenanaowei became the Administrative, Social and Cultural Head of the Clan while the Orukariowei heads the juju worshippers kingdom.  As far as History continues to brighten the future, the known Ibenanaowei’s from 1911 are as follows

• First ;Amgbatu of Aleibiri
• Second Ebiafa of Toru-Ibeni
• Third Igbagara of Isoni
• The first and second were not juju priests

Before the coming in of Europeans, the Ibeni-Oyiakiri clan had the same administrative structures as we have it today.  As at threat time the head of the clan was the juju priest, who was styled Pere or Orukariowei.  He had a council of chiefs, which carried on the general administration of the entire communities.  Each community had a head who used to be the Amaokosuowei with compound chiefs as his cabinet.  It is the same trend now, but the small difference now is the community development committee, CDC, which was not there before the advent of the military in Governance.  The Community Development Committee and Towns in Ibeni-Oyiakiri Clan

• Toru-Ibeni I
• Anyama-Ibeni
• Akeddei
• Ossiama
• Isoni
• Odoni
• Toru-Ibeni II
• Warrigbene
• Egbopulogbene
• Awegbene ;
• Ogbonogbene
• Akeddei Torububogbene
• Agidigbene
• Eastergbene
• Kunou
• Adagbabiri
• Ogbosuwari
• Lalagbene
• Aleibiri
• Angalaweigbene
• Tietiegbene
• Ongoloba
• Adiegbe
• Ogbogbene
• Kaarengbene
• Obotebe Burutu LGA in Delta – Original Oyiakiri Community in Brutu LGA

Culture

The only example of a common deity in Ibeni-Oyiakiri Clan is the OYIAKIRI EBGESU. To us who are informed under oral evidence our own Egbesu is “WOMAN” which is even more powerful than themale in Oporomo Kingdom. The centre of worship is “OGBOSUWARE” and the deity appoints its chief priest. This is a clan deity.
Also, the various communities have their individual deitieis. They have them from different sources and are worshiped in theirown ways. Good example are the ISONI TARASAIN, Okoroso of Ossiama and Benikurukuru of Toru-Ibeni. Sometimes, neighbours from the clan and beyond are invited during the festive periods.

There is no common festival for the people of Ibeni-Oyiakiri Clan. Some communities have individual, annual and bi-annual festivals. A Good example is the Adigbe feasting and fishing festival of Ossiama which is annual. Also the Opuaduno fishing festival is a bi-annaul ceremony. The Ison – Kalatoru fishing & feasting festival and Odoni, new yam festival are annual events, just to mention a few. Youths Body are bi-products of successive military Administrations